Rockland County Girl Scout Earns Gold Award for 'Pillows for Pink' Project

Rachel Broudy (center) with Nyack Hospital staff members (left to right) Marianne Walsh, RN, assistant nurse manager; Nicola Smith, NP, patient navigator at The Breast Center; Shari Siegel-Goldman, MD, breast imaging specialist at The Breast Center; Helen Rock, administrative director at The Breast Center.

Rachel Broudy of West Nyack, a member of Pearl River Troop 40578 Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson, recently completed the requirements to receive the Girl Scout Gold Award.

Rachel’s project, “Pillows for Pink,” involved raising funds for materials to create heart-shaped pillows for distribution to breast cancer patients in Nyack Hospital’s The Breast Center. “I wanted to help breast cancer patients feel more comfortable,” Broudy says. In addition to raising funds for the project, Broudy coordinated a group of volunteers to help decorate the multi-colored pillows.

The Girl Scout Gold Award honors scouts age 14 to 18 who complete a project that encompasses organizational, leadership, and networking skills, and sets the foundation for a lifetime of active citizenship. The project fulfills a need within each girl's community (whether local or global), creates change, and is something that becomes ongoing. “Pillows for Pink” met these strict requirements and had the added benefit of bringing joy to women receiving care at Nyack Hospital.